


i'd kiss you as the lights went out

by archers_and_spies



Category: Marvel
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Heart-to-Heart, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Resolved Sexual Tension, but i swear theres no sexual content in here, i havent posted anything in months ive officially forgotten how to tag im sorry, just a kiss?, phillinda have a betting pool, they're locked in together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23446411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archers_and_spies/pseuds/archers_and_spies
Summary: He comes to, blinking slowly. He’s lying curled in on himself on the floor, head throbbing, and—“Clint?” someone whispers urgently. Natasha’s cool fingers come to rest on his forehead. “Barton, you with me?”
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 10
Kudos: 55





	i'd kiss you as the lights went out

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters, and the title is from Taylor Swift's _Dancing With Our Hands Tied_.  
> Okay hi no kidding I wrote most of this at 1:30am on a random day and then completely forgot about it for at least half a month until I went through my Notes app and did my best to save what I could but at an actually reasonable hour, so I swear it gets better towards the end ~~even though it's largely unedited~~. Enjoy!

**132 minutes**

He comes to, blinking slowly. He’s lying curled in on himself on the floor, head throbbing, and—

“Clint?” someone whispers urgently. Natasha’s cool fingers come to rest on his forehead. “Barton, you with me?”

Clint grunts in response, surveying the cramped, dark space they’re in. “What happened?” He winces, noticing his fingers are red and flexing them. 

Her expression notably shifts to more guarded, tense, and she’s back to Agent Romanoff, the passive Agent Romanoff he’s been dealing with for the past few weeks, something that’s slowly driving him insane. “They drugged us. They drugged us, and then they tied us up and threw us in here. I managed to cut the ropes with the knife in my shoe, but that’s about as much as I could do. They took my guns, bites, your arrows.”

“They’d better not lay a single finger—“

“Quiet,” she scolds. “There are about thirty guards out there. This room we’re in doesn’t even have a lock. In other words, we’re screwed.”

A few seconds pass before Clint asks, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Natasha—“

“I’m fine as can be, okay, we’re trapped in here with no way out. Never been better,” Natasha snaps, having trouble keeping her volume low. She exhales shivering, and shakes her head. “Sorry.”

“You’re cold,” Clint observes. 

“Of course I’m cold, I’m still in that ridiculous dress from the gala earlier.”

He doesn’t hesitate— they took his suit jacket, so he’ll have to improvise. He loosens his tie and unbuttons his shirt. Where Natasha would usually smile and crack an innuendo of some sort, she instead lets him drape the shirt around her shoulders without saying anything. 

He doesn’t ask what the plan is, because he knows if they had had one Natasha would’ve told him already. Instead, he asks, “How long was I out?”

“Two hours maybe.”

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault,” she says as a reflex. 

**145 minutes**

“Is S.H.I.E.L.D. coming?”

“We can only hope,” she replies. “The closest base is at least a few hours away, though.”

He looks at her a second longer. Even in the dark, she’s beautiful. “Nat, you’re scaring me.”

“What, expecting a plan? This room is literally just walls with nothing inside except for us. We have no idea where we are. I don’t even know how they managed to get us in here.”

Clint’s hand finds Natasha’s, and his fingers curl protectively around hers. Surprisingly, she doesn’t flinch away. “Hey. S.H.I.E.L.D. knows our mission went south. They’ll come.”

Natasha doesn’t respond, and instead lays her head on Clint’s shoulder, falling asleep after a while. Clint shifts a bit, surprised at how he’s missed her physical affection.

**167 minutes**

“I’d kill for some pizza right now,” Clint muses aloud, and he practically _hears_ Natasha roll her eyes. 

“At least your constant state of hunger is still intact.”

**189 minutes**

“Clint.”

“‘m here,” he says groggily, trying to stay awake. “Barely, but still counts, right?”

“Are you going to sleep?”

“Probably. Why? I don’t have to, if—“

Natasha cups his face with her hands, and slowly lowers his head onto her lap. “Cпать.”

**224 minutes**

“Ever wonder where you’d be without S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Probably too dead to be places.”

He chuckles humourlessly. “I’d probably be some pickpocket on the streets.”

Natasha nods and hesitates a bit before saying softly, “Ballerina.”

Clint says after a while, “Makes sense,” so soft he’s not even sure if Natasha hears.

**243 minutes**

Clint lightly nudges his shoulder against hers, trying to lighten the mood in advance before he brings up a topic that’s definitely not going to end well. “Sorry.”

Natasha looks up. Clint’s gaze drops. 

“I don’t... I don’t know. But lately you’ve been kinda distant and it’s probably my fault. I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry.” 

Natasha stares incredulously, shakes her head a little. “And you think that’s your fault. Of course you do.”

“Is this about the mission last month? Because I get it, I’d hate me too, I should’ve—“

“Clint,” Natasha interrupts, a tiny bit offended. “I could never hate you,” she says, turning her head sideways. They’re breathing the same air and he’s so close she can smell him and there’s no other way to put it, but she’s got _butterflies in her stomach_ and it’s driving her absolutely insane, and _this is the reason she’s been unfairly cold to him, it’s because she can’t get enough of him, and with every cell in her body she wishes he was hers, hers, hers._

Her eyes automatically dart down to his lips, the way they do whenever a man is this close to her, to draw, _lure_ him in further—

 _No_ , something inside her screams, Clint is not some mark. Clint is being brought coffee in the morning before a briefing, communicating wordlessly and yet flawlessly in the field, tight hugs after a particularly risky mission, finding ludicrous ways to pass notes during a debrief, stepping into his apartment in Bed-Stuy and being greeted by a golden dog and a casual nickname that’s grown on her over the years. Clint Barton is not like anyone else, and so her gaze stops lingering on his lips and drifts back to his blue-grey eyes.

“But if you don’t hate me, then why—“

_Idiot._

When she catches his lips with hers, it’s gentle and careful, testing the waters: _Are you okay with this? Is this what you’ve been waiting for, the same way I’ve been?_

His hand comes up to cup her cheek, not pushing things faster, but not slowing them down either. That’s his answer then, she supposes: _Yes._

**276 minutes**

They look up when they hear grunts coming from outside, followed by unmistakeable thuds of bodies hitting the floor and then pounding on one of the walls. Really hard pounding. 

Eventually, a rather large chunk of the wall gets smashed in, and Clint instinctively pulls Natasha closer, backing against the opposite wall. A bit of light leaks in and Coulson, holding a battering ram, bends his head down to peer through the hole, Melinda May kicking one of the unconscious guards’ face for good measure in the back.

“Hi. I’m here to rescue you. I’m amazing.” He smirks when he sees the position he’s caught them in— Clint’s hands on Natasha’s waist, her practically sitting in his lap. “So, you two finally resolved that sexual tension, did you?”

May calls from behind him, “Called it! You owe me twenty bucks.”

**Author's Note:**

> HIIIII how are you all doing???? A bunch of crazy stuff has happened since I last posted on here and I hope everyone's healthy and doing well :) Please please remember to wash your hands, stay home to flatten the curve, and donate if you can! I know this was short but I hope it entertained you at least a little bit if you were bored at home :)
> 
> [As usual, find me on my other platforms here :)](https://linktr.ee/karasnecklace)


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